Monday, July 1, 2013

ES SAL: Important News + CS's Finish!



Well, it's been a wonderful month here at ES! A really heart-felt and HUGE Thank You to everyone who has been following along with the SAL posts, and to the SAL Participants for making a long-time dream a reality for me!!!

It has been absolutely *amazing* to see a simple little pattern from my imagination become a reality in other talented stitchy hands! I'd love to try this again sometime in the future, maybe in the Winter when there's more time for crafting ;)

Today is the last day of the SAL, and while I'm a little sad to see it go, I'm happy to be moving on to other things too - although I don't know exactly what, LOL! There are still bookmarks being made, and I will happily be featuring them whenever photos come my way, but I've decided not to extend the deadline again. This was designed to be a relaxed SAL, with everyone working at their own pace, so just continue to do so!

Technically, you have until tomorrow, July 2nd, to be "under the deadline" but please don't feel pressured to get it done! I rushed mine, and while I was happy to finish by June 20th because it was a personal stitchy goal I had set for myself, it did make it a lot more stressful to do! Which was exactly what I was trying to avoid, LOL!

In more exciting SAL News, CrazyStitcher - aka CS - (from the always entertaining Crazy Cross-stitcher blog) finished her beautiful bookmark yesterday! And she has also written a wonderful post about her working process which is a fascinating read!

CS added some lovely seedbeads in yellow (which was a stash find that happened to match *perfectly*!) and spring green, and backed her stitching with some pretty sparkly white felt she fell in love with on a recent visit to a local craft store. CS tried out the Invisible Ladder Stitching I mentioned in my SAL Bookmarking Finishing Tutorial, and the result is beautiful! I definitely want to try backing with felt now :)

But what is really awesome is her absolutely gorgeous marker!!! CS made an elegant twisted cord and then added a *fantastic* Swarovski crystal bead as her tassel top:


And here's a close-up of her super sparkly tassel:


Isn't it lovely?! This is definitely something I'd like to try in the future! This is an idea that could be very simple - with a large wooden bead, for example - or made very fancy, like CS's crystal! Make sure to head over and read her post for more!

As for the SAL, if there's no objection, I'd like to leave up the links and Finish Gallery in my sidebar for the rest of this week (at least) in case some more in-progress or finish photos come in. I'm still working on updating ES, and hope to find a more permanent home for the SAL section! Hopefully one with room for future SALs ;)

Thank you all again! You have made this SAL experiment an amazing adventure!!!

4 comments:

CrazyStitcher said...

I think it is we (the SAL participants) who should be thanking YOU! During the past few weeks you have put an extraordinary amount of time and effort into ensuring the SAL ran as smoothly as possible for the partipants, with the addition of your wonderful tutorials.

Three cheers for Aurelia... Hip, Hip, Hooray! For she's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of us! - Thinking about it, should I have said 'fellowette' instead? Lol.

Thank you also for the amazing write-up about my bookmark, which has seriously boosted my ego and left me beaming from ear to ear.

There is one thing I would like to add to anyone thinking of backing a bookmark with white felt, which is that it may pay to use batting (I didn't) otherwise the stitching on the front of the bookmark may be slightly visible.

Karen said...

I agree with Crazy Stitcher... we should be thanking you for putting this together. :)

Her bookmark turned out beautifully too!

Anne said...

All of the SAL participants did an amazing job on the bookmark. Beautiful work Aurelia!!

Aurelia Eglantine said...

Thanks so much for the comments, sorry my reply is late!

CS: Aw, I'm blushing LOL! Thanks very much :) I fell behind on the tutorials, but I'm so glad that the finishing one helped you with your bookmark! I will keep your tip about working with felt in mind ;)

Karen: Now I'm red as a lobster, LOL! Thank you kindly, this SAL wouldn't have happened without your interest and encouragement :)

Anne: Thank you!!! What a wonderful thing to say, and I totally agree :) The bookmark finishes have completely amazed me and far surpassed even my very best hopes for them!